


Twilight Princess as Told By the Norse

by Sabeki



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Beowulf style, really long
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-16
Updated: 2015-04-16
Packaged: 2018-03-23 07:39:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3760042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sabeki/pseuds/Sabeki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I have 23 pages of this  just sort of sitting there, and I figured, hey, why not share that with the world? Unfortunately it's all gonna be one big chunk, so there's a lot to get through. Sorry /:</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twilight Princess as Told By the Norse

**Author's Note:**

> There's a lot of changes fro canon to make it more fitting as a Norse/ Olde English poem (though not to the extent of it being in Old English) and it's also gonna be long AND it's gonna cu off abruptly towards the end. sorry about that.

Hark and gather to hear the tale/ of the Twilight of the tyrants  
Veiled shadows in gold-light/ these shadow-beasts of terror  
Ravaged the realms of men/ under the influence of an usurper  
Zant was this shadow-mans name/ a wreckage of life and tragedy  
And with his greed and treachery/ he cast this land into a pale reflection  
a mirror of itself/ shadow-draped and soul-sad.  
But in his usurping, one escaped/ who was cursed through hubris  
her form that of an imp/ wicked and treacherous  
Bound to the land of light/ she limped towards a small hold  
doing as she would to the world/ and hoping for justice for her people  
Slowly, saddened and sorrowed/ she made her way to this hold of hope  
Ordon, it was called/ and its people were simple and blessed by the Goddesses  
The three who had made this world/ and bathed it in light  
Leaving behind not much/ but their power, in golden form  
the young warrior of this hold, Link/ was so blessed with their power  
Fayrore, Goddess of the green Earth/ blessed him with courage  
the imp and the innocent/ did sally forth, then  
to honor old alliances of theirs/ to the princess Zelda, of Hyrule  
who, by wicked design, had been captured/ and held in her hold by hard hands  
made of cold stone and glowing blood/ wielded by Zant, the usurper, in his dark realm  
slowly the hero and imp went/ creeping into the twilight of the world  
when Zants shadowed fiends found them/ keen of eye and scent  
descended upon them in battle/ Amused, Link the hero called out  
“What ho! What beasts be these/ that creep in the darkness!  
Would a warrior do this in this style/ and in silence attack us so!  
Surely he who did is a coward in this!/ Come and face me, O Zant of darkness!  
Or name thyself coward in battle/ and shame yourself on my blade and tongue!”  
But Zant, thrice-cursed coward, taker of power/ did not show himself in heroism  
instead, acting through his beasts/ he attacked our hero, Link.  
Hordes fell upon this Hero in Twilight/ dragging him down through dreary rivers  
felling him into moats of steaming fire-water/ and through howling desert.  
as he felled them one by one/ vicious beasts one and all, bent to Zants power  
until finally he was felled by magic/ and chained into the form of a blue-eyed beast  
with tangled fur and sharp fang/ his teeth could not avail him,  
and the imp was forced to flee her hero/ weeping and wailing, only to follow  
“What woe is this! My hero already captured on this first leg of the journey!/ He was so young and hale, hearty and strong, but now dead or lost!’  
But still, bound to him she followed/ as the beasts dragged him to chains  
but in fortunes way, this was some luck/ as the hard hold they took them to was Hyrule  
home of the princess and the golden force/ subdued as it was by twilight  
but in beast-form, the hero was held/ and in chains he could not break the bars  
the imp, having followed, appeared to him then/ having impregnated the stronghold  
and using some sorcery from out of time/ she broke his chains, though not form  
“Hero of Twilight! I have done what I may/ But Zant comes quickly to us  
you must escape yourself, though you may be disdainful/ and so I depart to wait for you”  
And with these proud words/ the imp departed from him.  
The hero, Link, still in his beast form growled/ but knew he would gain naught from it  
so he set his beast form to use/ blessed by the goddesses so as to not be total waste  
they had given him some relief from these dark Zant-magics/ and the lost form of dexterity was re-payed  
by new scent and sight of better make/ that of the wolf and the hawk, noble animals  
so he found a weakness in the bars/ and using newfound claws and jaws  
the hero-beast rended them open/ and descended into the lonely darkness  
the sorrowful souls trapped of twilight/ frozen in feel and action  
were down here with the chained-hero/ being unblessed, the darkness tugged at them  
and the hero-beast came to a guard/ from when the light-land was beautiful  
“Where has this misery come from!/ O, what despair is this  
that the lands of Hyrule should be brought thus/ dead and drowned in a sea of sorrow.  
Black things patrol the waters of the hold/ stone and brick do not avail us,  
they crawl from the walls and spawn in slimed waters/ greedy and jealous devourers!  
All my friends and fellows, dead and devoured!/ Who is there!” The guard startled to action  
feeling our heros nobility/ but not seeing him  
“Leave me to my misery, o dead soul!/ What are you, friend or foe!  
Departed spirit, slain by my own inaction/ a friend now lost? O, Francis, Gladdis, Marith!  
Where your bodies now, where a gloriful death!/ Gone now, only dead corpses swarmed by slime.  
Leave me alone and lonely, O friends!/ My time has come for me in despair.”  
And with these words, our beast-noble departed/ saddened he could not comfort him  
and fear was set in his heart of the swarms/ darkness-possessed rats in the sewer  
thus he crept into the darkness/ a lone candle in the night.  
But the waters had flooded!/ Sharp spears and swords came to the top  
darkness-inhabited and reeking of death/ while the swarm sucked at his essence.  
Deftly the hero-beast bayed at them/ teeth and claws a whirl of might  
when the imp returned and shouted/ words of the twilight people turned on itself  
and the swords and spears shrank and clattered/ as she released them from cursed existence  
“The princess is waiting for us, O beast/ And you waste time chasing rats!  
Do you need me to nurse you?”/ She exclaimed, smiling at him widely  
the hero growled, but could offer no recourse/ his words muzzled by his form  
the imp bade him forth to a great chain/ made of stout steel and iron  
“Here is what has blocked this water/ and delivered it to the dark-things  
perhaps, O mighty hero, you may lift it?”/ The imp invoked his ire, smiling at him  
then, the hero-beast, Link, in all his strength/ tore the chain from timbers and stone.  
Gnashing it, he cast its fillings aside/ and it shatter into shining pieces of darkstone  
then the waters were waned into receding/ and parted for the two of them to proceed.  
Link bayed then at her in humour, smiling/ And the imp continued on, neitherly.  
Here they came to a stairwell crumbling and decrepit/ old stones echoing with age and dust  
“I suppose you will need my guidance in this too?/ Here, jump for me.” She said, and leaped to the first step.  
Then the hero, Link, leaped after her, snarling/ and she danced with him upon the stair  
rangling with ropes and ruins to the top/ She and he danced and leaped to the end  
until they reached a war-weary stair/ shattered and wizened by disuse  
As the imp bade Link to leap/ it shambled and shuttered, shedding her  
plunging her into the deep dank darkness beneath/ she shrieked in terror as it fell beneath her  
Here her magics could not avail/ Not so near to the Light of Zelda  
So she fell, but the great hero/ Roaring with courage and anger  
Leaped to his shadow-guide through the great chasm/ snatching her in his jaws  
So both arrived safely to the edge/ And the imp was silent for long seconds  
Recovering, she said/ “I suppose you expect me to thank you  
But this choice was not mine/ to live in light, like you do  
Do you expect to win me over so easy?/ You are to us like chaff,  
Useful, but in the end/ Unremembered and dull.  
Though perhaps some may yet change my mind.”/ She said, sighing at him.  
“Come, we approach your Princess/ The wise wonderful woman-leader  
Are you not anxious to meet her?”/ The hero-beast was silent to this.  
“Small wonder you are silent/ Dogs should not speak to their masters, eh?  
Perhaps this silence shall last throughout our journey/ If both of us are lucky.”  
Thenceforth they entered into the spires and rooftops of the hold.  
The brave hero, Link, gaped in wonder/ Where once were a blue sky  
Now was an orange gauze, with no rain/ But flecks of ash, black and cold  
Raining down upon them/ Truly, this was the twilight of time and gods  
The imp smiled upon the sight/ “Ah, the Twilight! How beautiful  
In its own way, for my eyes/ Though I suppose for you it is over-stayed  
And the fire-sky is wearying.”/ She paused then, wandered and saddened both  
Her eyes seeming to be away from them/ Then sharpened, and returned to the sky.  
“Look, beast-steed! Upon the horizon!/ Zant has warped the very sky against us!  
A storm made form, and its contents/ Children and brethren, in twisted form  
Come to break us upon battle!”/ The shadowed one warned him  
A great bray came then/ from those twilight-wings  
Weapon of the killer-tyrant, Zant/ They swooped in slowly  
Black wings rimmed with foul lights/ Red and bright like some fiend-fire  
The hero, keen of eye and scent/ attacked with powerful jaws  
And wounded the shadowed storm greatly/ Its wing torn in twain and twisted  
Slowly the hero fought/ through the clouds of malice  
Mouth filling with vile liquid/ Claws stained by shadow  
Until the tower was reached  
Both came through/ and the shadows scattered  
Such was the power of Zelda/ granted to her by golden wisdom  
From Nayru, another great goddess/ who made the laws of land  
Giving them to each creature/ Her rule just and fair  
Awed, the hero-beast and the shadow-guide/ climbed to her room and prison both  
Swinging the door open to her chamber/ Looking into the golden enclosure  
There she greeted them/ With grace and dignity  
“My Midna, have you found me/ My noble hero? I see his presence  
In the form of this noble beast/ much like the ones from his hold  
Ordon they called it/ known for herds and cheeses  
But my people much forget themselves/ regarding the bright beasts of the woods.  
How long now since Zant has stolen your people?/ Women and children he took, defenseless ones  
He used to hold sway over you, yet still/ The light of Ordon has not faded  
The spirit of light holds there/ In the position the goddesses gave him.”  
The hero-beast nodded his agreement/ and she felt a shiver  
“So it is true you have been swindled./ My own people fell from a worse hand  
For I carried them at all times/ But when the tyrant came and took my light  
Them he took as well, into the Twilight/ Only my blessing saved me from this curse.”  
Midna, name now known/ bowed to the princess deeply  
“Hail to the Twilight Princess!/ It seems her reign will last long at this rate!  
Should we not have a plan?/ I know we discussed one when last I left.”  
Then the hero growled towards her/ but Zelda stayed his hand  
“Indeed a plan is prepared, Midna/ Though the title you give is ironic,  
It means more to you/ than it ever would to me.  
You must find and awaken/ This lands light, like a lantern bearer  
You shall spread the light of the Goddesses/ throughout my Queendom.  
But bewarned! The bright lights of them/ May scorch my Midna  
So do deal with her/ As you would the most precious jewelry  
When you have fled into light/ From these accursed lands.”  
Midna drew her small stature into herself/ Affronted by this accusation.  
“Is that all, Twilight Princess?/ Have you not left a part out?  
How you, in cowardice, sent yourself/ Upon Zants sword, ready and willing  
While your men were behind you/ While your lands depended on you?  
Can such cruel cowardice/ Be so quickly forgotten?”  
Zelda turned in shame/ But did not deny these accusations  
Link, light in darkness, looked at her/ and she did not speak to him  
But he could smell the truth in the words/ No matter how mocking meant.  
“My people were dead or dying/ O my Midna, you’ve no knowledge  
Or even heart/ if you would not sacrifice self for people  
What I did, I did without choice/ In the name of my lands peace and sanity”  
With these words, suddenly a swelling/ Of noise from the depths came  
“Zant is coming to us, heros/ You must run or fall under his power!  
Leave this place now!”  
Thus with a flash of gold from her hand/ The grace of the goddesses sent them  
Back to the land of light/ but the hero was still clad in the fur of a beast!  
“What misfortune!”, Midna moaned/ “A hero with no weapon is useless!”  
But before her laments ended/ A curious change whispered on the wind  
Slowly, the sky-fire descended upon them/ Cold dark-stone ash poured down  
The Twilight was upon them/ Thick as fog and hard as stone  
Slowly it poured down/ and Midna recoiled in shock  
“Hero of mine! What is this!/ Did you leave your people with no recourse from darkness!  
Tell me, where is the spirit of light/ that has fallen to the Twilight?  
Where do your people find rest/ and bask in the golden glow of the light-lands?”  
Snarling, the hero-beast sprinted with her on his back/ To the golden pond of Ordon, long-fabled  
In other tales than these of the light-wise/ the seven sages of the past times  
Here the spirit of light and good/ slept in his slumber of thousand-ages  
Only now was he jolted from slumber/ round rocky stones, smoothed with age  
Glowed with golden light/ As Ordannan rose from the waters  
His shape that of a golden goat/ clutching the sun in its horns  
“Great travellers” Ordannan wheezed/ “... Oh wise ones…  
Hear my tale… of the dark ones/ … Once this place was sun-strong…  
Its ring-walls high… Its light glorious/ … Now I clutch at life… String running from a rotten spool  
The shadow-beasts… Came with parasites/ … Stealing tears from my eyes…  
Young hero in beast-skin…. Save your people/ … The Goddesses blessed you for them…  
Here is my vessel… Fill it, and light returns…”/ And with that, the gold-horned Ordannan sank  
The stone-forts walls dulled/ And only the rush of cold water could be heard.  
The Vessel of light was gold and glass/ Innately carved and dressed by divine hand  
It had been carried for mead and gold/ for blood and light and sorrow,  
For any of a mans ills could be put in it/ and all things were kept in its interior  
Here light could be forged like gold/ and be reborn as a sun and moon and stars.  
“Have you not heard him! Let us move!”/ The imp cried, and sharply hit the hero  
Swiftly he moved into action against these poisoned parasites/ seeing their scent and exterminating them swiftly  
Running into rain and rivers/ but as the Vessel filled, a fog poured in  
Evil and purple, thick as stone/ It came down upon him as poison  
Filling the peaceful valley/ and ruining swiftly any beauty  
Falling upon the land/ The seeds it touched burst with wickedness  
Evil plants bearing thorned teeth rose/ their vines likened to tongues  
The fouled creatures seethed with malice/ Ripping and tearing roots like weeds  
So did this menace do its work/ But Midna, the clever imp, devised her plan.  
“Foolish fog! We may simply leap through the trees/ and never bear its foul stench and weeds.”  
So she dragged the bright-eyed beast through the empty branches/ but the weeds of the Deku fog  
Grew quickly and foully, like rats/ and wormed their roots through dead bark!  
Snapping and howling, they gnashed at Link/ A barrier of root and thorn and leaf  
But a beasts bite is harder than a thorns/ So one by one all fell from their perch  
Shorn by pure teeth and bone/ from the heros jaws  
And just as swiftly did the jaws fall upon the parasites poison-filled/ those evil and malformed things, born in darkness and of it  
They knew naught else/ and were slain justly for it.  
So did the Vessel fill with the tears/ weeping the light of it  
When the hero and his rider came upon a house/ seeming abandoned but having one inside  
Light-maker and lantern-giver, a humble salesman/ his home was rustling without his knowing  
Coro was the name of him/ lonely and sad being of the woods!  
“Who goes? I am lord of my house, I am!/ And I say none may move but me! Leave me!  
Oh Goddesses, what have I done!/ What things have I stirred in darkness!  
All my life, I have striven to give light to people/ And now it has been lost!”  
The parasites clawed around him/ crawling through his possessions with six legs  
Their filthy wings buzzed sickly/ the dead things of darkness flitting with stolen light  
Surely the hero-beast felled these things/ And the last tears filled the gold-glass vessel  
Slowly the light returned to all/ and the light-giver rejoiced at it!  
The pallor of death crept away/ and the leaves and plants bloomed brighter  
As the rot ran from the light/ and even slowly the hero returned to the gold-pond  
Now garbed in swathes of/ bright green cloth, and a pointed cap  
His image wrapped in steel-ringed armour/ the might and valour of him plain to see  
Here Ordannan awaited him/ “O hero, chosen by the goddesses…  
The clothes you now where/ Mark you as hero to all…  
Wear them with care and caution/ as befitting a great hero…  
Now return to Ordon hall!/ All there await you greatly....”  
Slowly the light faded back/ and with great laughter Ordannan faded.  
Link gave a shout of triumph/ but realized then Midna was lost!  
Slowly he turned, only to confront his own shadow/ “Did you think me lost? Unfortunate.  
I have hidden in your shadow-cloak/ to protect my flesh from light  
Lest I burn from it”/ Midna told him from it  
“Midna! It has been long since we last talked!/ I may rejoice of it, but I feared you wouldn’t.  
Whatever happened to the wish of silence?/ Are your wishes so easily disrupted?”  
But Midna was silent to him/ and so the hero moved to home and hall.  
But all was not well when he reached the gate/ Smashed and silent, still as stone it was  
With none to guard it./ “Where are my people? Where my friends?  
This stone is silent to me, yet only yesterday it rang with cheer.  
Is it so easy to bring silence to a great hall?/ Surely some must still remain.”  
Link wandered into the hall/ but empty stones met his arrival  
All was still, no more/ the laughing of children or ring of steel  
Yet some of his beast-scent remained/ and he caught wind of old friend and trainer.  
“Rusl? Rusl, reveal yourself!/ It does not do you well to hide from you pupil!”  
Slowly, Link did round the corner, and another scent revealed to him,  
That of Rusls wife, Uli/ Yet it was cold, and stale, and smelled…  
Slowly, Rusl turned from his lovers corpse/ Tear-stained and blood-stained, injured greatly  
He still stood, from sheer will of it/ yet his mind seemed to have collapsed.  
“Welcome home, hero/ If you still call yourself it.  
Where were you when we were sacked?/ The enemies, the Kobrolinn, attacked us  
Yet we could not find the hero Link./ Then the Bo-Kobrolinn came, and still none found  
Our hero was not home and we fell/ But here he is, hero, and only when all dead  
The halls emptied, the children gone/ all warriors hurt and wounded  
And our hero presumes to school me?/ Surely I had taught you better, Link.”  
Link stopped in his tracks./ “You have my sorrow, Rusl,”  
He said, sobered “But I was held by the Tyrant, Zant./ He has power greater than you know  
Even more than I have/ He felled me on the fields of Hyrule.”  
Rusl let a great wail loose/ “Can your sorrow pay my wereguild?  
Can it give me children?/ Can it comfort me in hard times,  
Bring me joy upon my face/ Pass on my legacy through generations?”  
To this the hero had no answer./ “It is as I thought then.  
I may have your sorrows, but you will not have mine./ Go on! your people wait for you.”  
With this Rusl shut him from the room/ and Link was put in deep thought.  
The Kobrolinn, ancient enemies of the Ordon/ Had never hall attacked, neither hearth nor hold  
Yet when the Twilight came,/ The evil men descended in a storm  
With their desert-cousins,/ The ancient Bo-Kobrolinn, as allies  
Yet such was a rare happening in a hundred lifetimes.  
Was this the fault of him?/ The question asked itself to him  
As blindly he wandered to the hearth/ Where Lord Boe awaited him  
“My closest-to-son! Where have you been?/ The shadow-guide has left you!  
Her fey-magics are no more tugging at you heart/ so we should rejoice,  
Yet in my cup I see only bitter tears/ on my plate only burnt ashes.  
What took you, my closest-to-son?/ Where have you been?’  
Thus Link relayed his story/ to his hearth-halls Lord  
Wisest of the Ordon people/ though the number had dwindled.  
“Zant has claimed Hyrule/ and laid claim to Ordon?  
Such seems strange and sly/ Yet such is the way of those bound in darkness  
O, closest-to-son, my heart goes out to you/ but it still must rest with out missing people  
Your horse, Epona, still lives in the stables/ There may you find your way to free our lands  
But chiefly, our peoples who were captured/ by the dread Bo-Chief, Bulblinn  
Leader of the desert tribes/ terror of our people on boar-back.”  
Link gave his assent, and left for the stable/ Where once a maiden name Ilia had resided  
But gone were the swish of her feet/ the smell of flowers in her hair  
The charming smile of her was gone/ replaced by stained blood and stale air  
Here was Epona, first among horses/ descendant of the ancient Horse-Queen  
In the time of the Golden Goddesses/ And the war between men of all kinds  
Dressed in the time of the Ocarina/ When Hyrule was smallest and last  
But had the golden power still/ and the thief named Ganondorf had been imprisoned  
Epona was red as blood streaked with white snow/ Her mane flowed freely  
The wind-spirit was in her hooves/ The light of the world her coat  
Such was the fashion of her travel/ Fast as wind and silent as snow  
Till she and her riders approached Fayron Wood/ Covered in the long dusk as it was  
She went no further, and shied from it/ but naught could be done  
At this dark barrier, Midna re-emerged/ quiet and sullen at the scene of Ordon Hold  
“The realm of Twilight lasts beyond the door/ And an errand I’ve need of you to run  
Once you have killed the parasite-kin/ filthy fleas bloated on disease  
You’ll be back to beast-form hence we enter/ Do you wish it to be so?”  
Link gazed at the dark portal/ Its entry marked with glowing runes  
“Midna, my people are dead and scattered/ My mentor mad with grief from slaughter  
The friends I once knew are long departed/ Their souls scattered to the wind  
Colin, Talo, Malo, Beth, Ilia.../ They are all that is left for me  
The soldiers most killed or injured I may never see again/ But this task is due to me.  
I shall run your errand, Midna, if that be your name/ And in quicker time than any other man who may attempt it.  
Such is my vow.”  
Speaking thusly, the noble hero, Link,/ charged with great courage and grief  
Ran and slipped into the gold-darkness of the Twilight/ Slipping back into his beast-fur  
Claw and tooth in hand and maw/ Scent and sight enhanced  
Yet the chains of his once bondage remained/ Dark-steel chains clasped around his fore-arm.  
Slowly he caught the scent of goodness in the woe/ The scent of a gold-pool, filled with light  
Though the people of Fayron had long forgotten/ The rule of the Three Goddesses and their grace  
Fallen to illness and evil long-past/ Here in Darkness they dwindled slowly  
“Child of light…” A soft song soared on the wind/ Delivering itself to the heros ears  
“I am driven off and forgotten.../ Soon none shall remain…  
I beseech thee, child of light.../ Take up thine vessel…  
Fill it with my sweet tears.../ Bring back to me the light that was…”  
Then there was naught but silence/ The winds whistling through the leaves  
As more of the dread fog fell/ Upon the black and forgotten wood  
Swiftly the hero hunted them/ foul insects of dark malice  
Their ends swift and just, truly/ such creatures not fit for any world  
Neither of darkness and death/ or of light and living like  
So swiftly they perished/ and the tears flowed to the Vessel  
Gold-glass carved by old ones/ spirits left by the Goddesses in the land  
With a great and fiery roar/ Link did rend the last in twain  
Returning rest and light to the region/ Yet still a shadow seemed to remain  
Vile in its incantation/ Foul in its manifestation  
Lurking in the heart/ of the ancient wood  
Gnarled and twisted upon its heart/ Slowly seething in slime-pits  
Where it lurked in darkness/ Twisting on itself  
But as Link stood tall and hale once more/ The fog had not lifted itself from the wood  
It loomed there in graveness and greyness/ Foul thing it was in form  
“Alack! We are shamed by this great fog!/ Are we not able to get to simple errands?  
Beast-servant! We need to hurry!/ Zelda awaits for us to return light  
To her home and hall!/ We cannot do so if stayed here.”  
Slowly the hero acknowledged her/ and set his mind to rights  
Surely some tribe remained/ that knew the light of the goddesses?  
So they returned to the light spirit/ Ancient but now departing from the world.  
Here he gave them some solace/ Saying unto them of an ancient people  
“Once I held charge for them/ An ancient and happy people  
How they sang and danced for me!/ What woe did the Kobrolinn bring to them!  
Alas, I have seen them not for years/ they have fled from me away  
to take their home in some deep wood/ I have been blinded from them  
they having changed their form/ for where children cannot hide  
an animal can, perhaps.../ O blue-eyed beast, hero of the goddesses…  
I beseech thee to find mine people/ the forest children who have fled me  
The Kokiri they were called by yours/ But now they have abandoned that name  
Trod into stone underfoot/ They are led by the White Ape  
A great one among them cursed/ A parasite fled from your Twilight  
Into his mane and skin/ now he rages without end…  
Save my childrens children/ the hero who has been stolen  
O hero of the goddesses/ please…” And with this plea,  
the Light spirit of Fayron departed.  
Now the hero had returned to green garb/ to wander the old forest  
Where Kobrolinn and Kokiri walked once/ and shall again, in elder days  
So the hero set forth into the wood/ And Midna fled within his shadow  
to escape the brightness of the light/ When suddenly a chief of the Kobrolinn fell upon them  
“Behold the hero of hard-hold/ who’s broken rocks he protected!  
Now it has fallen to me/ and I have bought my glory  
Long shall my name be sung in glory/ long shall it be whispered in your peoples shadow!  
Now the hero himself presents to me/ a chance to gain even greater  
My glory gained would be double yours/ in any and every respect.  
Why do you come to my home/ and replace the amber sky with pure light?  
It is not your land to tend/”/ So he spoke these cutting words  
Proud-full and discourteous/ as his people were to them  
“The land is not yours, either, Chief.”/ Link then replied to him  
“You have stolen it from rightful owner/ the Kokiri, led by the White Ape  
Who has fallen into ruin by some dark design/ of the Tyrant-king, Twilight Zant  
he has given you claim on this place/ but it is no more yours than  
a dog can claim the roof his master has / belongs to him solely and alone.  
Begone from my path, wretched creature!”/ Thus with a cry Link rushed forward  
In his hand naked steel, sharp-pointed Odronna/ Ancient sword of the Hold  
gifted to him by wise Boe/ in the days of his youth  
With a great whirl of noise/ the two entered into battle  
The hero lightly dancing/ around the Chiefs awkward lunges  
and the Chief heaving mighty blows/ upon the light-lands heroic Link  
Till finally, the hero gave a great howl/ and the stones seemed to glow gold  
And unbidden the villain-chief fell/ and was vanquished there by blows  
lain thick and bloody upon him/ such with swift grace the hero took him.  
But when the hero took hand to face/ it was wet with salt-tears  
he had deprived a people of their leader/ cruel as he had hoarded his hall  
and however he may have maliced Ordon.  
So it was with bitterness the hero departed him/ the tangle-trees of Fayron ahead  
but the fog, deep and poisonous/ was too great and strong for him to bypass  
but then an ancient spirit flitted to him/ her hide the colour of barl  
and a flower in her hair/ she thrust it into the fog for the hero  
so he may pass/ into the woods of her home-hall  
For she had known him once/ when time was younger  
it had been the light of spring then/ he still a child  
as his charge were the young ones/ whom she had approached  
and in merriment they chased her/ but even then the Kobrolinn menaced  
their dark-chief took her to home/ and Link valiantly swept the malice away  
with only a wooden practice sword/ such was when he was blessed with courage  
for the Goddess Fayrore watches her charges/ and knows them who care for the Kokiri.  
Such had been their meeting/ and now she guided him  
the silent spirit-light flickering/ driving away the fog  
But the fell fog had driven in its roots/ Deku weeds sprouted speedily to slay her!  
So Link took sword in arm/ and trusted his ancient ring-mail to protect him  
though thick with age/ it still had a shine to it  
Each time he struck out/ a weed would whip him fifty times  
and fifty times whipped the armor held  
such was the grace of it/ still enshrined with glory  
till the last weed fell/ and they were safe across.  
“I find myself in your debt/ oh fair forest flower,  
name your price for your service/ and I shall make it so.”  
Then the forest-flower smile/ and asked of him this:  
“O blue-eyed hero/ sent by the Goddesses,  
our great leader, the Pale Ape/ had been possessed by the Twilight  
promising the end of our people./ Release him from this curse!  
I beg this of you/ and now you shall make it so, yes?”  
The hero Link promised it on all vows/ those known to us and many long lost  
for such is the way of the world/ forgetting and changing and twisting in form  
so Link departed to the great forest-temple/ home of the ancient Kokiri  
cast from the light of the spirits/ it was a darkened hall.  
Fashioned from an ancient tree/ who had housed life long ages ago  
under the Hero of Time/ ancient one of old  
who had slain the demonic Ganon/ the Gerudo god of the desert  
who had slain his liege-lord/ that had held him in faith.  
Slowly the hero held its ancient form/ that of an old thing sleeping  
but restless still/ longing for blood and battle  
the wind howled inside it/ long and forlorn  
the hero strode into the main hall/ when he saw the long lost leader  
the Pale Ape, his fur greasy and yellow/ his eyes red-tinged and maddened  
“Who has the madness to enter my hall?/ Do you not know of me?  
I am the Pale Ape! Ruler and king!/ Many are my treasures and relics,  
Yet still it is not enough/ for greed is gold-getting and paramount.  
Behold this ancient weapon, traveller!”/ He cried to Link, leering at him  
“IT is ancient beyond Time/ holding the spirit of the wind.”  
Howling he hurled it at the hero/ its curved blade the shape of a soaring bird  
it sang like the wind to the hero/ but did not harm him  
for it saw a good and kindly soul/ which meant it no harm.  
taking the curved weapon in hand/ Link the hero drew his sword.  
“It would do me great pleasure to end you/ O Pale Ape, if you were of your own mind  
But the affliction is not your own/ so mayhap I can beat some sanity into you!”  
Thus the hero charged the Ape-king/ who shrieked and roared at him  
His inhuman rage overwhelming/ his breath stinking like the maw of filth.  
It cut at the heros skin/ bellowing and gnawing  
but the hero was blessed by forces greater than he/ and so drove his sword into skull  
striking at the deep madness lying there/ whispering and whirring away at the king  
With great shock it dislodged itself/ flying from bone and brain  
And Link struck it with such force/ it knew nothingness and oblivion  
there the Pale Ape collapsed to the ground/ his madness mound around him  
falling to great sleep/ and the hero sheathed his blade.  
Then the kings charges came to him/ leading Link from the hall  
“Praise be to the slayer of madness!/ Hail the hero who saved our king!”  
Thus cheering, they led him through the hall/ to where the Forest-flower awaited him  
“O noble hero/ I cannot praise you enough  
but I must ask you yet another favour.  
Through this door lie/ the great parasite of our hall  
naming itself the Deku Baba/ it claim kingship of our hold  
using our leaders madness to claim it/ the thing thralls the hold in root  
its foul flowers lie everywhere/ threatening the realm.”  
Smiling, the hero turned to the crow, the Deku Baba.  
Slowly Link approached the slime-sea/ when with a great spray a weed arose  
shooting for the hero like an arrow/ but he was too quick  
using the weapon of the ape-king/ he trapped it in a great wind  
and it slammed against the wood-wall/ slipping into slime once more  
Then, another weed rose from the slime/ hissing great clouds of fog  
but once more the hero used the weapon returned to his hand  
and the fog was whirled away into nothingness/ and this head too shrank.  
“Is this all the Deku king has to offer?/ I expected much greater things.”  
Link mused to his self/ but then the room roared  
The slime-pool bubbled terribly/ and the king reared his foul head  
a bulbous thing, knobbed and hard/ deep fleshy red like blood  
its tongue slid from a great thorn-rung maw/ and the terrible beast did speak  
“Who is this worm that trespasses/ does it not know the name of its betters?  
I think not, for it has impugned upon me/ a great and terrible insult,  
tearing at my hands and eyes/ greeting my courtesy with winds  
strong and terrible when I have been blessed./ Name thyself, foul interloper!”  
From the shadows then, Midna spoke to Link/ “He has been blessed, this is true,  
but not by hands of his/ he wields an artefact mine  
stolen from me by Zant/ it has great and terrible power.”  
Knowing so, Link spoke to him/ “I am called Link,  
or Blue-Eyed Beast/ or hero of Ordon.  
You speak only lies to me/ O lord of lies and darkness  
you have the blessing of none/ for none know your power  
even the maddened king now cured/ did deny your power  
for all believe you false./ How is courtesy viewed by you?  
If it is to kill the guest I must apologize/ for I have learned to view death a disdainful thing  
but if you wish to respect your courtesy/ I shall lie down for you  
but bewarned now, O false king/ that not a single blow would fell me.  
Even the Pale Ape in madness could not/ and he was far greater than you.”  
Then the Deku Baba roared at him/ its anger revealed towards its own incompetence  
So the fog and the the spines descended upon him/ bristling with anger and death  
long they grappled with each other/ grasping forcefully with each other  
Link barely holding to the stout earth/ being dragged into the slime-pit  
when then the leader of the Apes/ once being plunged into madness  
entered into the room/ once his homes hearth  
where he had feasted with his people/ where he had seen many great battles  
and then taken with rage/ he cast himself down the weeds throat  
the great king was completely devoured/ but the weed fell to its death  
slowly it was cleansed from the land/ as it dwindled and dried  
shadow given brittle form/ it shattered on being exposed to light  
and from it poured a shattered battle-helm/ hewn from dark-stone by Midnas people  
“I shall take that for you/ it is unfit for the light to have  
its touch corrupting and shadowy/ all who dwell on it find doom.”  
Midna, the squat imp/ took the thing from its place  
and it sat upon her/ a mirror to the other half of her face  
for truly she wore it there/ an ancient and ugly thing  
smooth and curved and sharp/ its edges dulled with time  
still it was shattered/ but now was made more whole  
that artefact of her people/ retreated to the shade.  
Then the forest-flower came to them/ looking for her king.  
“Where has our leader gone?/ He was in the hall not long ago  
making merry with us/ until he learned you had faced the false-beast.  
Is he not with you now?/ Why does he not return to us?”  
With tears in her eyes the forest flower/ beautiful in bloom in her hall  
beseeched him/ for she had known his fate before he even left  
Slowly Link found the words to give her/ stumbling upon them, no scop was he  
“My fair flower of Fayron/ he perished pushing himself in the Dekus throat  
that threat is there nevermore/ it has crumbled into darkness  
but your king has fallen also/ perished into the lands beyond.”  
Then the forest flower gave a great wail/ and broke her sobs upon Links shoulder  
like waves against the shore/ but naught could return her wise king.  
There she blessed him with a kiss/ and the hero felt great power  
like that of the kings form/ for great gained victory was tainted with great grief  
two tribes had lost their chiefs/ weak they were to attack and death  
Then the hero departed/ for he could not aid them there  
his power for battle/ not for the intricacies of rule  
he strode upon the great plains/ calling wind-swift Epona to him  
when he caught the scent/ of those children lost.  
Quickly he leapt upon Epona/ and she shouldered him on  
through the golden plains of Hyrule Field/ swift and silent as an arrow  
till they reached a great crevasse/ steep and dark it was  
and on the other side was the weight of Twilight/ ever shadowy and near.  
But such things could not stop the hero of Hyrule/ and he jumped greatly across  
his legs propelling him over the dark stones of it/ over and over he sailed across  
until finally after an hour of leaping he crossed/ into the lands of Eldin, home of the volcano people  
dusty and dry was its land where the keep was/ led by a shaman called Renado  
The hero passed into Twilight then/ taking once more the form of beast  
claw and tooth in hand rather than sword/ in place of great mail there was fur and skin  
into that great melancholy of dusk/ he departed swiftly to, and Midna arose  
slyly she surveyed her surroundings/ the great canyon of Kakariko Village  
set at the base of the great Death Mountain/ home of the Goron people hewn from rock  
given breath in their fiery veins/ by the grace of the goddess Din.  
Here the Hylians made home/ at the base of the great peak  
inside of the Eldin Canyon/ they cowered from the sudden onslaught of Twilight  
these masked things shuddering throughout the town/ slopping oil and stink into the stone  
the once wholesome place now loathful/ filled with vile malevolence by it  
the great hero Link/ was urged forward by Midna.  
“Come now, Beast!/ we are in my realm, so you are mine  
for the time being, at least./ We must look through the town.”  
so the hero went forward/ when three of the shadow-masked  
sprang upon him/ with a mighty roar they called down  
five darkstone pillars/ creating a barrier of Twilight.  
With a leap and a roar/ Link felled two of them.  
Thinking himself victorious/ he leered at the final one  
but it let out a great wail/ splitting the air with a fierce cry  
and foul energy repopulated/ the fallen foes Link had slain.  
Their limbs rattled and whirled/ free from any sense of nature  
and the beasts descended upon Link once more/ frightening in their new countenance.  
Again and again fell on his foes/ and still the scream sang  
reviving his foes from fallen pose/ slowly they wore on him  
“Hero! We cannot die here!/ Our quest is not yet begun!  
Stupid dog, you can’t die now!/ What of Zelda? What of Hyrule!  
Are these things so lost to you/ that you would let these things kill you?”  
Midna asked of him/ her cries cloaked with callousness  
but Link heard the ring of them/ and was renewed by it  
Midna then felt a shock/ of some ancient dark power  
slowly the artefact reached through her/ ancient and terrible thing it was  
it consumed her in that moment/ reaching through her  
gold-glowing hands reaching/ tearing into those shadow-beasts  
encircling them all/ and the hero then ripped them to pieces  
shredded dark-things/ that were used by Zant no more  
so the hero strode deeper/ into that melancholy waste  
into that oldest village/ of the ancient Kakariko  
once home of the Shieka/ protectors of the Goddesses blessing  
now passed from the world/ felled by an ancient demon  
dwindling lines of descendants/ depleted by demonic intent  
or fallen into that ancient darkness/ home of the lost and dying.  
Now the town was occupied by some small few/ for the Gorons had long retreated  
into their stronghold/ filled with great magma and steel  
tressed with iron/ and rung with gold  
there they felt safest/ in the halls of their elders.  
Treading softly through the dust/ Link followed his senses  
into the sound-filled home/ the villagers took place in  
driven there by the sound of Twilight/ here Link found the familiar scent  
of those one that had been lost/ thought slain by some others  
cowering at the windows./ Link entered the building  
and the window he came through shut loudly  
where a man cried: “Who goes there!/ Be you a man, or be you a shadow!”  
his hair was red like fall leaves/ and his head was helmed  
in a mask to stop fire/ for he worked with ancient secrets  
explosive and deadly/ wrapped in an orb  
lit by the slightest spark./ “Calm yourself, Barnes.  
These children already cower/ along with you.  
Must you make the shadows on walls/ into the monster-shadows  
to you a prowling spider/ must be a great monster!”  
A calm voice spoke out/ Renado it belonged to  
peaceful shaman of the village/ wise in his years  
now reduced to cowering/ in his own hold  
his one and only daughter beside him.  
“But the monsters can’t get in./ Can’t they?” asked one of the children.  
Link knew him from times past/ here was the son of Rusl  
unknowing of his father and mothers fates/ still innocent to the world covered in Twilight  
ruled by an unjust ruler/ his people subjugated and chafing  
under his yoke/ for men are not oxes  
meant to bear that burden/ of dying for their survival  
but to burn in glory/ and light a pyre throughout the ages  
a scream of rage/ echoing in eons.  
“Do you see those claws/ or those mighty legs?  
Are you blind, child?/ These things are toying with us  
When we sent the first party,/ there were then two  
after the fact/ it was three.  
They could have killed us all/ if they ever felt like it!”  
Barnes flew into a fit/ flailing his form around  
“Barnes! Calm yourself!/ It is not for you and I to question good fortune.  
The Goddesses have smiled upon us./ do not revoke their blessing by cursing it.”  
silenced, Barnes strode to the end of the room./ “Good luck runs out eventually.”  
This he muttered to himself/ but did not share to the others  
suddenly the hero picked out a scent/ of a foul darkness lurking  
beneath the roof of the hallow-home/ a parasite lurking  
“What is it, Blue-Eyed Beast?/ Does the dog smell something?  
Eh-heh, maybe it should focus on/ the lighting of the dawn  
and not upon these feeble foibles/ of spirits trapped in amber like flies.  
Hmm?” Midna teased him/ but the hero ignored her  
sniffing and pawing at a great statue/ of an ancient make  
like that in the olden days/ when men roamed the sky  
and worshipped a single Goddess/ one made of three  
and three forged into one/ now long-lost to the lands of light.  
Then the statue shone with a great light/ and moved and rumbled down  
into an abandoned basement/ from a long-lost time  
when the Hero of Hyrule/ possessed the great Ocarina  
and killed that demon-king/ Ganon of the Gerudo  
in days long passed-by/ now was the Twilight of an era  
and in this passing day/ the hero stood  
exterminating the pest-parasites.  
Such was his lot in the world/ as we all draw ours  
from the choices the spirits give us/ good and evil both among them.  
Swiftly the things perished/ and the tears stolen flowed back  
into the vessel of the Goddesses/ rimmed with light and gold  
flowed with it all/ but still was empty  
the bloated bodies of these foul flies/ were not the only ones in the town  
so the hero leapt from the pit he was in/ ancient shackle-place of the Shiekah  
to the town above/ wind-swept and abandoned  
glamoured in the twisting Twilight/ obsidian ashes falling down  
filling the landscape with melancholy/ from an orange and brazen sky.  
Pale and cold/ yet burning all the same.  
The hero then clung to the cliffs/ of the Eldin Canyon the town was in  
til he reached a scent coming to him/ deep down on the rocks below  
in an old shack on the steep slope/ marked with old age but still used  
he jumped down to it/ flying through the air  
when there was a shuddering cry/ rending the air with sorrow  
old curse-birds/ driven to death  
forms held by strands of energy/ given cursed life by the evil tyrant  
they descended upon him/ black wings pulsing with life-blood  
veins of black-amber twilight/ running through them  
riddling them with gold/ but from foul, not fair, shine  
slow they circled the hero/ and then dove upon him  
shrieking and tearing/ maddened by the darkness  
the bright-eyed beast responded in kind./ Muscles flexing he tore them all to feather and dust  
bone shards piercing skin/ amber-blood leaking to the ground  
these blight-birds shuddering/ passed to shadows in seconds  
as the hero paused to recover/ licking blooded wounds  
kneeling by the shack/ inside of which foul things loomed upon him  
cursed and evil things,/ this is true, waiting inside  
Link entered in search of it/ terrible things awaiting him  
it was the bomb-maker/ old Barnes house  
though Link knew nought/ of Barnes or bombs  
of any of the delicate intricacies/ he had never happened upon them  
in his home-hold of Ordon/ where he had held sway.  
Suddenly, a lazy buzzing went up/ foul and putrid  
it hummed from within the walls/ taunting and mocking the hero  
The hero then turned to the fiery coals/ the shrouded-iron hearth of the home  
and took a spare stick to the fire/ with his jaws thrusting it in  
then sank it into the walls/ the fire-blaze catching to wood  
the parasite was burnt to cinders/ but the fire spread as well  
to the strange powders/ the acrid smokes  
all was set upon a blaze/ the fire spread heartily  
consuming all the building/ timbers turning to tatters  
smoke issued forth from it/ and the hero had to squeeze out  
from the doomed domicile/ as it burst into wreckage behind him  
great force expanding from it/ he barely escaped from the explosion  
the outline of the building/ was all that remained for it  
bare ashes clinging to stone/ a ruin of a home  
but the light was saved/ the light-lands could endure.  
Link pushed the tragedy/ from his mind  
and continued to hunt the scent/ of the foul flies  
further and further up the mountainside/ he climbed the rocky caves  
till he reached the home-hall/ of those ancient people, the Gorons  
covered in stone and rock/ hardy and hale, they were.  
Each was a soldier in his own right/ taller than any man in Hyrule  
muscled and strong/ but even they were hopeless before Twilight  
their leader tainted by a dark poison/ fear filled their minds and men  
one guard stood by the entrance/ to the famed Goron mines  
worry tainted his appearance/ forming his features into grimace.  
The guard was worrying aloud/ at the state of his people  
“Are we really in such dire straits/ that we should close and hold?  
To be trapped in our home/ like a turtle in a shell?  
The elders may say we need power/ but if this is a mere display,  
how many may see through it?/ The food is close to running out  
the money is running low/ but the elders let none out  
‘Let them all perish’ they say/ thinking we will reclaim the ashes.  
But what use/ is a kingdom of ash?  
It brings none happiness/ heals no wounds  
the land would be barren/ and scorched land is worse than less land.  
But I must obey the orders/ given from the core.  
If I betray my masters/ then what’s my purpose for?”  
Then sighing, the Goron resumed his watch/ but the hero had slipped past him  
while hearing his woe/ and kept these words in mind.  
Midna let out a laugh/”How ironic this is!  
One of these mighty mortal kingdoms/reduced to silly posturing!  
And for what? A burnt kingdom!/ These fools would rather wait  
for a raw duck to rot/ than to cook it as they like.  
Is this is how the Gorons die?/ Lame and miserable? What waste.”  
With that Midna receded/ then remembering the Tyrant  
Shadow-king Zant of Twilight/ reigning and misusing a land  
for if this was what happened/ to men with stout rulers in hard times,  
then what happened to those/ with weak rulers as kings  
especially in times of hardship?/ This may have been the end of the Gorons  
but it could be her peoples as well./ Sobered, she patted Link, the noble beast  
urging him onward to the Gorons/ who had holed up in their homes and halls  
hewn from the mountain/ by careful hands from decades before  
when the ancient hero/ chosen by Time itself  
had destroyed the restless beasts/ that had plagued its halls  
when these stones had been young/ and recently made  
for the Gorons were an ancient people/ here on Hyrule in the time of the sky  
and had long kept to themselves/ quietly slumbering in the bowels of the earth  
as Din whispered to them/ of their strength and powers.  
But now! Their hall and home/ was dull and listless  
a queer unease had settled on them/ for the time of Twilight came upon all  
and the parasites spread disunity/ amongst the races of light  
in their rightful homes/ whispering of madness in the rafters.  
So the home of this mighty race/ was reduced to a simple fort  
the fires of industry no longer bellowed/ the smoke of the mines was gone  
for all had been called to swear watch/ by their Elders, who had taken control  
form the Triarch, Darunia of the Gorons/ sealed in the ancient mines  
guarded by one of their greatest warriors/ he slept in darkness and pain  
as fire raged around him/ and ancient evils woke themselves from the earth  
by the great evil sealed with him/ they sensed its powers.  
Link stalked through the eerie corridors/ dust-swept rock and sand surrounding him  
into the heart of the mountain/ where none could see him  
there he saw the three elders/ and infesting them three insects  
vile and evil things/ born from cruelty.  
Suddenly shuddering/ the things turned their hosts heads  
the Goron-chosen whispered to him/ “Hero of Hyrule from the lands of light  
we welcome you to our kingdom/ have we not made it majestic?  
Did you keen to our brothers work?/ The slaughter of your people  
it was most a feast for them./ Such sorrow! Such pain!  
They feasted upon Ordon/ and grew fat and fearless  
thus you slew them easily/ and now ours are dead  
but the lights of the parasites/ do not perish without costs  
we keep these souls alive, Link./ Without us they will perish  
the Gorons master will awake within the dungeons/ and slaughter them one and all!  
Can you keep him from this fate?/ Without us the Gorons of ancient times  
all will crumble to dust and death/ their stories will fade from time  
utterly from Hyrule they will be cleansed/ until nothing else remains.  
Will you allow this fate to be visited upon them?”  
The mighty hero-beast could only growl/ at these insectoid creatures malevolence  
Such is the bind of a hero/ faced not with good and evil  
but greater and lesser/ as is his charge in all times  
to save people/ but what if he cannot  
or even must not?/ But then Midna spoke to the parasites  
“Did you truly think this threat through?/ Foolish things, I know the power of which you speak.  
None of your tricks could hope to hold it/ for it is the greatness of a people  
bound into a weapon/ even in shards it kills all.  
You have set your house alight/ and thought yourself clever!  
For others will perish with you/ into the land after life  
but you have not realised/ such a thing would not allow you death  
it would extend your existence/ a thousand deaths you will crave!  
Even if these deaths were shameful and cowardly/ how would you seek them!  
But every cliff jumped from/ all blades taken to flesh  
none would harm you for long/ only the terrible pain would remain  
cast down from life and death/ a shade in the darkness  
you would not even make wickedness/ such would be your longing  
for the long sleep/ which all mortals enter.”  
Hearing this they then cowered/ under the wrathful eye of Midna  
now they begged for her/ to set the monster slumbering underneath  
into the land of death and dust/ such was their fear and folly.  
But Midna reigned the hero in/ when he attempted to put things out of misery  
“Return to us the tears, insects!/ Mayhaps then we may deign to clean your monster problem.”  
Shrieking in fear, the tear-filled things/ relented to them the tears of light  
“They were stolen from the springs!/ In them the light spirit resides!  
Now flee us, O light-filled ones/ leave us to misery!”  
So Midna bade Link to depart/ though he gravely wished to end these things lives.  
They exited the people-place/ into the mournful Goron halls  
where Midna looked down upon him/ and sighed “I suppose you wonder why  
I let those wretched things live/ when they deserve such a fate.  
They are telling the truth/ when they said they keep the Elders alive  
without those bloated parasites/ the Elders would surely die  
and the Gorons would be leaderless/ lost and lonesome under the weight of doom  
no people deserve any such fate/ even if the leaders are puppets.  
If I actually cared for these things/ I merely would have slaughtered them!  
… Don’t look at me like that!”/ For the hero had been  
grinning at her the whole time/ seeing that she truly cared for them  
it filled him with joy/ that she truly had a lot in the land  
she had been charged/ with the saving of  
for those invested work harder/ than those without interest  
and will work hard/ to see and save their work.  
The two travelled to Kakariko/ to the great spring within  
warmed by the fires of the earth/ where the light spirit of Eldin resided  
in all his glory/ given to him by the goddesses  
his light returned to him/ the land was flooded with brightness  
the cold ashes of Twilight/ and fiery sky of it  
were swept away/ with clear blue skies  
and the lights of the land/ were beautiful once again  
and the hero was returned/ to the form of Hylian  
given to him by birth/ back in the lands of light.  
Then the children came out/ shy and nervous at the sudden change  
‘till one of them saw Link/ and cried out in joy  
soon they had all embraced/ as Link listened to their woes  
long had been their trials/ and woe and weary were they  
but they were not defeated yet.  
But what misery came to them/ as the fearsome king of the Bo-Kobrolinn  
strode into town atop/ a fearsome boar  
tusks gleaming white/ hair a sickly green  
the beast resembled master/ the master his beast.  
Link drew his sword/ and the steel rang through the air  
but the king only laughed/ and charged him on boarback  
but not for Link did this coward ride/ but the hopeless and helpless  
he swung his mace towards/ with lighting speed  
he aimed for Beth/ the young girl  
had been frozen in fear/ shaking and trembling  
but then Colin/ the shy child  
pushed into her path/ and the club slammed into him instead  
the king picked him up/ the limp form loose and lifeless  
and thundered out of the canyon/ laughing the whole way.  
Enraged as Link was/ he let out a fierce cry  
but this did him no good/ so he picked some horse-grass  
lying by the pond/ blessed as it was  
and let his lips produce/ a high, piercing note  
it warbled through the air/ humming like an arrow on its course  
to the ears of sweet Epona/ the horse blessed by the Goddesses  
she sang softly to its tune/ and rushed for the hero  
the wind in her hooves/ the grassy plain like a river  
and the hero mounted her/ and rode for the king.  
Bulblin his name was/ raised in the Gerudo Sands  
in the shadow of the colossus/ the home of the arbiter  
the abandoned keep and home/ where Bublin resided  
and things had whispered to him/ tales of strength and shadows  
of ruling himself and not bound to Hyrule/ long ago the Gerudo spring dried  
the Goddesses held no sway there/ though it is said that the wise  
often found some solace there/ locked under the colossus  
and under the sands of the earth/ where dark things dead lie.  
He challenged Link the horse-rider/ and held Colin like spoils  
a tribute to his people to be used and bought/ swiftly their blades clashed against one another  
blow after blow was struck upon him/ on those ancient fields where men once lived  
armor was hewn off blow by blow/ until finally the hero landed a blow on flesh  
striking through to bone/ he cut deep into Bulblin-King  
who let out a great roar at this/ and then Link cut the mast  
that held young Colin/ the gentle child of Ordon  
down from his post/ as the boar-king fled to the deserts  
blowing the horn of his people/ he called his men around him  
until Link and Colin were alone/ in that vast and lonely field  
home of the ancient people/ their ruins marked the landscape  
bone-white and dust-covered/ crumbling to nothing  
yet still they stood against the years/ daring at the future to erase them  
such is the way of the old/ when being replaced by the innovative.  
It is a sad way of living indeed/ when one cannot pass peacefully into the night  
and all that walks the land/ shuns your presence  
the hands that built you/ now long gone.  
Through these ruins Link rode/ back to the great canyon  
on hardy Epona, the great horse/ until he reached Kakariko  
where the others were.  
Unstrapping himself from Epona/ he ran towards the others  
“Here is Colin,/ here is my mentor’s son!  
Is there any one of us/ who may see fit to heal him?  
Who can tend his wounds/ mend his broken bones?  
He is in a great pain/ both in spirit and flesh.”  
Then the great Shaman/ Renado, leader of Kakariko  
old friend of Lord Boe/ ruler of a desolate town  
approached Link/ and laid his hand upon him.  
“I may try my hand at this/ for my healing has been called to it before  
when still my village was full/ and men would fight each other  
or a Goron would crash through/ crushing lesser men beneath them.  
My daughter also/ would be able to help him.”  
Renado gestured to his daughter/ and she took Colins frail form  
and removed it from their sight/ and Renado resumed his conversation.  
“I know of and have heard of you/ O Link, hero of Ordon  
your lord tells me many things/ of your great heroism and valour  
he has talked of establishing you/ his heir, as his daughter worry’s him.  
Who are you, Hero/ to have gained such a mans appreciations?”  
At this Link smiled at him/ and let out a laugh  
“Merely a man, I’m afraid/ if I were more than you have painted me,  
then I fear I may soon rival/ all three of the Goddesses!  
It does not do us Hylians well/ to boast and enter hubris  
our history tells us so./ But who are you?  
I have made some guesses/ for the Shamans of Kakariko have  
some good renown in the world/ a healing hand is far rarer than a harming one.  
But I would have it from you/ if it is not too much to ask.”  
Renado nodded in thought/ and then replied to him  
“I am called Renado/ I have walked many roads  
and saved many lives/ but I had not thought to have won fame.  
I currently lead this village/ and have had met Lord Boe  
when I was able to help it well enough/ but now it is faded in glory  
only children and old men remain/ to mourn what has been lost  
The Gorons remain holed in the mountain/ lost to all that plagues them  
but I feel a great shadow/ resides there in wait.”  
Mida whispered to Link from the shade/ “Link! This must be  
the ancient power the parasites/ described to us! The monster  
lying in the mountains grimly/ ready to fall upon the country.  
This is where the shadow lies/ and another of the artefacts  
scattered from my people/ we must go up the mountain!”  
So Link set out to the mountain/ where fire was contained by earth  
like the breath of a dragon/ it spewed fire and death  
though recently the fires had cooled/ the fires were stoked no more  
by the ancient blood/ of Din the powerful  
though the springs still steamed/ and the rock still rumbled  
slowly Link made his way/ up the face of the mountain  
for it shook him hard/ like a dog to a flea  
but he clung to the mount/ that thick-rock of stone  
until he finally reached the path/ to the Gorons home  
he took his toll of his surroundings/ when another rumbling made itself known  
bracing for another earthquake/ the hero hid himself on the ground  
but this was no mere shaking of rock  
this was the might of the Gorons!/ A great warrior amongst them  
set to guard the pass of Death Mountain/ he rolled down the hill side  
his rocky girth shaking the path/ he barreled down on Link  
and the hero was hurled howling/ down to the canyon below  
onto the tough ground and sand/ he gritted his teeth in pain  
Renado quickly ran to him/ holding a red vial in his hand  
“Drink from my vial, O hero/ it will help to ease your pain  
the mountainside did not take kindly to you/ perhaps the Gorons have set themselves apart.  
Once more they have shown to be a stoic people/ not easily moved by the plights of fleshy Hylians like you and I.  
I knew of only one man who could defeat one/ you know him as master of your hold now  
but when I knew him he was called/ Strong-King, for his prodigious power over them  
he could keep one blow for blow in a match/ but I believe he did not necessarily fight fairly  
or perhaps he made the match more even./ You will need his help in this matter  
if you wish to best the Gorons.”/ with a knowing smile  
revelling at younger days/ in the light of his youth  
when he was unburdened with responsibility/ and could drink and fight with the best of them  
days when he did not watch over others/ like he did now  
Link thanked him then/ and left on Epona  
swiftly reaching back to his old home/ while the children recovered  
but still something troubled him/ the young maiden of Ordon  
Ilia who had once in past times/ favored him over those others  
young men who jostled/ for her affections  
yet she shamed them all/ each one she took to race  
on the back of a horse/ and each one she outrode  
but only Link could claim to match her/ or at least was closest to it  
for she using a base horse/ was able to outride wind and light  
a blessing from the goddesses upon her  
she used it in her service/ to Lord Boe, her father  
she cleaned the horses/ made them fit for battle  
and killed them with one clean swoop/ when there legs were broken  
she never wept for a single one/ for such was the way horses died.  
Link then found home again,/ and returned to his home and hall.  
Here little effort had been made/ to clean the blood and mud from the walls  
it still was caulk and mortar/ to the men inside  
dwindled and lonely, locked away/ to the sight of light and love.


End file.
